Objective
Recent years have seen renewed attempts on the part of natural scientists to invigorate and inform the social sciences. Two prominent examples include the efforts of cultural evolutionary theorists to account for cultural change and cultural stasis, and the efforts of evolutionary psychologists to provide a scientific account of human nature. In both cases, these efforts have met considerable resistance from the social sciences, especially from social anthropology. This project proceeds from a conviction that antagonism between these disciplines can often be explained by deep, and unacknowledged, philosophical differences regarding the nature of scientific explanation, the composition of culture, and the characterisation of human nature. This large project asks: “What philosophical disputes lie at the foundations of disagreement between the natural and social sciences? How can an exposition and adjudication of these disputes point the way towards a reconciliation of the two domains?”
Fields of science
Call for proposal
ERC-2011-StG_20101124
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
ERC-SG - ERC Starting GrantHost institution
CB2 1TN Cambridge
United Kingdom